Migration Policy Institute
Migration's Middlemen: Regulating Recruitment Agencies in the Philippines-UAE Corridor
Multimedia Tabs
Dovelyn Rannveig Agunias, MPI Policy Analyst
Luzviminda Padilla, Labor Attaché, Philippines Embassy in Washington, D.C.
Jeni Klugman, Director, Human Development Report Office, United Nations Development Program
Kathleen Newland, MPI Director of the Migrants, Migration, and Development, and Refugee Policy Programs
Private recruitment agencies are key intermediaries in international migration. They facilitate, and sometimes drive, temporary labor migration to an increasing number of countries today. In origin, transit, and destination countries, recruitment agencies guide prospective migrants through immigration processes and travel requirements, match employers and workers, and provide information about living and working conditions. For many migrants, however, deception and abuse are part of the package delivered by labor recruiters.
MPI's report — Migration's Middlemen: Regulating Recruitment Agencies in the Philippines-UAE Corridor — explores the critical role of recruitment agencies in contract labor migration from the Philippines to the United Arab Emirates. It also reviews the two countries' regulatory frameworks, assesses how the frameworks work in practice, and offers critical considerations for reform.
This discussion with Dovelyn Rannveig Agunias, the report's author and MPI Policy Analyst. Luzviminda Padilla, Labor Attaché at the Philippines Embassy in Washington D.C. provided comments on the paper, and Kathleen Newland, MPI Director of the Migrants, Migration, and Development, and Refugee Policy Programs, moderated the event.